135 Port Colden Rd. Washington, NJ 07882 (Products sold for pick-up at the Summit and Montclair farmers’ markets and other locations; check with farm for locations and product availability) 908-310-5625 www.vacchiano

For the thousands of New Jerseyans who prefer to buy all-natural Thanksgiving turkeys raised on local farms, the week before Thanksgiving is often the time when would-be order-placers receive the sad reply: “Sorry, we’re sold out.”

This season, however, is a different story.

“This year is unique,” said Aimee Ashley Myers, retail manager and co-owner of Ashley Farms in Flanders. “People haven’t even been thinking about Thanksgiving. They were waiting until they got their power back to order turkeys.”

The third-generation family farm still expects to sell out its inventory of 2,200 fresh white hybrid turkeys, over half of which were spoken for by last weekend.

“People that would normally order by Nov. 1 are waiting a few days,” Ashley Myers said. “We’re gonna be taking orders this year up until the last minute.”

Myers cautioned, however, that customers should order by Friday to be assured of having a fresh turkey on their Thanksgiving table next week. Orders are held for pick-up at Ashley Farms’ retail market until noon Nov. 21 – the day before Thanksgiving.

Arriving as day-old chicks from a hatchery in Ohio, the turkeys are raised in covered pens that are open on the sides. Ashley makes its own feed consisting of corn, soybean meal, vitamins and minerals – and even grows the corn used in the feed.

“We don’t use anything artificial,” said Myers, whose grandparents Muriel and Hubert Ashley opened the farm in 1948. “No growth hormones, no antibiotics, no water injections and no preservatives.”

“We have people every year who try to get the biggest one,” Myers said.

Customer Nina Adams, of Flanders, who has patronized Ashley Farms for two decades, selected one of the 20-pounders to bring to Thanksgiving dinner with her family in Chester Township.

“There’s nothing like their fresh turkeys,” Adams said. “There’s a huge difference from the frozen ones you can buy in the supermarket.”

The farm also holds strong family memories for Adams. “When my boys (now 18 and 20) were younger, we would always go up there when they first got the chicks.”

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Turkeys are available in sizes ranging from 14-pound hens, to toms in the mid-40 pound range, on a first-come, first-served basis. Ashley’s $3.19 per pound price reflects only a slight increase from last year, Myers said, to cover the higher cost of ingredients in the feed.

“We always tell people you get what you pay for. If you don’t think it was worth it, we’ll take the turkey back,” Myers said, adding that, to date, none have been returned.

Should Thanksgiving customers miss out on Ashley’s supply of fresh turkeys, inventory from another 2,000 “fresh-frozen” turkeys processed since September may still be available – and “are just as juicy and tender,” the farm promises.

Gravy made of stock from the farm’s turkeys is also sold, along with an assortment of apple, blueberry, strawberry rhubarb, pumpkin, pecan and other home baked pies.

In the Sussex County community of Branchville, proprietor Paul Dalrymple’s Plaid Piper Farm has been raising more than 170 broad-breasted bronze turkeys that arrived from Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County as poults, or chicks, in June. At least half were still available for ordering at press time.

“They’re good eating and they graze well,” Dalrymple said. “They’re out in the fresh air four months.”

The small group of free-range turkeys are raised in an all-natural environment on six acres of the 210-acre family farm first started by Dalrymple’s great-great-great grandparents in the early 1800’s. Sized between 14 and 28 pounds, the turkeys enjoy “grass, bugs, fresh water and sunshine,” Dalrymple says, in addition to receiving a balanced feed of minerals, vitamins, corn and soy. No antibiotics, growth hormones or pesticides are used on the farm, which also produces beef and pork.

But Plaid Piper’s otherwise tranquil environment was interrupted by the wrath of Sandy, which claimed three of the farm’s turkeys during intense winds and rain. The rest of the flock was able to take shelter in or around the farm’s trailer. The hardships encountered by many of Plaid Piper’s customers have been much worse, Dalrymple says.

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“They’re thankful if they have their lights, their power, their car and their gas. They’re not thinking Thanksgiving. One of my customers (on Long Island) had a house filled with water.”

The net result has been a postponement of ordering, creating availability of the fresh, minimally processed turkeys that Dalrymple says had already sold out this time last year.

Plaid Piper is maintaining last year’s price of $4.50 per pound, and markets its turkeys directly from the farm by appointment.

In Warren County, Vacchiano Farm’s all-natural, free-range turkeys were almost sold out, but some may be available through the weekend, owner Anthony Vacchiano said.

The 100-acre farm on Port Colden Road in Washington dedicates 10 acres of fields for its turkeys, which number 600 white and 150 heirloom Bourbon Red varieties this Thanksgiving season. Vacchiano describes the white turkeys as “traditional, broad-breasted and more tender,” while recommending the Bourbon Reds for lovers of dark meat. “It’s a wild, old-fashioned turkey that’s mostly dark meat – and gamier.”

The Bourbon Reds were all born on the farm – most in March – and are a slower growing breed generally available in sizes between eight and 10 pounds for hens and 14 to 16 pounds for toms. The white hens, meanwhile, weigh in between 20 to 22 pounds and white toms in the 30-35 pound range.

The turkeys are given all natural feed and mineral-rich well water, and mature naturally without the use of antibiotics, hormones or growth stimulants.

“They love being out in the sun,” Vacchiano said. “I’m nurturing these turkeys every day. What can be better than that?”

But the farm was not immune from Sandy’s path of destruction, with a number of empty hoop houses destroyed and loss of electricity for a week.

“The animals had a building to go into for shelter,” Vacchiano said. “We have emergency generators to run our wells.”

Ordering was interrupted because many customers – a base Vacchiano estimates to be “99 percent” repeat clientele – were affected during two weekends. “Many of them didn’t have working Internet,” he said.

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White turkeys are $4.29 per pound and Bourbons Reds $8.99 per pound – a slight increase from last year.

Established by the Vacchiano family in 1983, the farm produces products including grass-fed Black Angus beef, free-range chickens and vegetables, and bottles its own wine from grapes grown on the farm. Made from scratch fruit pies using locally-sourced fruits are also available.

Remaining turkeys will be sold Saturday at the Montclair Farmer’s Market, and Sunday at the Summit Municipal Park and Shop Lot No. 2.

At the Griggstown Quail Farm and Market in Princeton, director of operations Matthew Sytsema reports a bumper crop of free-range turkeys for this Thanksgiving, and hopes to accommodate customer demand.

2,200 traditional white and 500 Bourbon Red turkeys have been raised for the holiday, and can be picked up starting this Saturday at the farm’s retail center, or at remote locations including the train station in Bernardsville on Nov. 20 from 4-7 p.m.

Customers wishing to pick up turkeys in Bernardsville are requested to get their orders in by this Sunday.

Sytsema – also the farm’s executive chef – says the Bourbon Reds, which sell for $8.40 per pound, “are closest to what the Pilgrims would have eaten” on Thanksgiving.

“They’re heartier, and have a larger proportion of meat in the thigh and drumstick than the breast,” he adds.

Consumers preferring a larger amount of tender breast meat will find that in the farm’s traditional white turkeys, selling for 4.19 per pound.

Prices were raised slightly this year due to added feed costs, Sytsema said.

Griggstown’s all-natural turkeys are fed a diet of corn, soy and minerals, without the use of hormones or antibiotics.

Sandy made her presence known on the 39-year-old farm by knocking out electrical power for 12 hours, and creating lingering ordering delays. Raw materials – including flour, pie tins and boxes for the farm’s kitchen – were hard to come by for several days as a result of the storm.

“It hurt me in production for a good 10 days,” Sytsema said. “I still have employees who don’t have power in their homes.”

Generators and refrigerated tractor-trailers were utilized during the power outage. Although the retail store was closed for a week, Sytsema says it was able to recoup the lost business from all the customers who had lost food due to power outages.

Along with its turkeys, Griggstown offers popular accompaniments including home-baked fruit pies, giblets gravy, homemade soups and sausages.

Any remaining turkeys from the current Thanksgiving crop will be put to good use, Sytsema promises, likely ending up in the farm’s all-natural turkey pot pies.